


Never Alone

by Cosmitasia



Category: Mother 2: Gyiyg no Gyakushuu | EarthBound
Genre: Ambiguous/Open Ending, Character Study, Emotionally Repressed, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Post-Canon, Recovery
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-12
Updated: 2019-11-12
Packaged: 2021-01-29 15:55:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,786
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21412765
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cosmitasia/pseuds/Cosmitasia
Summary: Months after his adventure filled with unrest, Ness finds himself back in a place he never thought he'd see again.
Comments: 1
Kudos: 12





	Never Alone

**Author's Note:**

> [Rainy Day - Guster](https://youtu.be/sfdjkALwgiU)

After their journey to save the world, life was gradually settling down and returning to how things used to be, give or take a few friendships. Despite mostly gaining friends, getting a boost in popularity at school, and the fulfillment of saving the world as its own reward, Ness couldn’t help but feel a profound loss and unending emptiness weighing on him. 

He felt so disconnected from the people in his life, he’d never experienced it before. He couldn’t even feel the presence of his close friends, let alone the sudden influx of people who suddenly decided it was cool to be friends with the psychic kid who saved the world (They totally never made him feel like dirt or anything before now, not at all.) It was overwhelming to be bombarded with all the attention, even if it was starting to die down as of late.

For the longest time, Ness was trying to figure out why he’s remained so agitated, even long after his journey ended. It’s been months, everyone else around him was able to resume their lives as usual, or maybe that was just him letting his irrational frustration impact how he perceived the state of the world and people around him.

He thought, maybe it was just a reaction to the trauma. Maybe it was losing his longtime best friend. Maybe it was the blatantly artificial friendliness of the people in town and at school. Most realistically, it was everything blended together and building up. The most irritating part to him was the fact that he’s never been impacted by anything this heavily for this long before. He should have bounced back by now! He’s supposed to be the fun, positive friend, that’s what he’s always been.

The restlessness wasn’t getting any better. The dwelling on his anger, grief, and guilt, letting the thoughts cycle viciously through his head over and over, holding the same excruciating impact each time. He still couldn’t sleep soundly half a year later, those same disordered swirls of red assaulting his mind whenever he closed his eyes. The best he could do is toss and turn until his body gets too exhausted to move. After god knows how long he spent going through that same routine in his bed, a rare night came where he was finally able to slip out of consciousness.

The world melted away around him into a dream, easing him back into the familiar ethereal country of his mind’s creation, Magicant. He had no idea why he was back, he hadn’t been back to this place since the final sanctuary. He figured it would have disappeared, or at least be out of his reach, after his initial visit. He stood on his feet, the fatigue on his physical body fortunately not ailing him here. 

Taking a moment to look around, he realized the once brightly colored island full of residents and personality had deteriorated into a barren, gloomy wasteland. He couldn’t see far, as a thick fog formed throughout the area. Something was tugging him to trek deeper. He began his return to the depths of Magicant, the dead grass crunching under his socked feet. It was lonely and eerily quiet, last time he had been here he had stumbled across plenty of familiar faces, but this time he was only getting fleeting images of people in the corners of his eyes that would vanish when he tried to focus on them for too long.

As he got further, the terrain shifted to dirty slush covered ground. Ness’s pace was reduced to a creep, trudging through the deepening slush. Coupled with the area’s change, the air went cold and heavy, making breathing increasingly difficult. Despite the frigid air stinging his skin accompanied by the thoroughly unpleasant sensation of snowy, wet socks, the feeling in his body remained in tact.

Ness was forced to a halt, kneeling over to cough, straining to catch his breath. The pressure of the air around him became far too encumbering for him to continue forward without rest. He took a moment to observe his surroundings again, he couldn’t tell how long or how far he’d been walking for. The phantoms of people became rarer, though more recognizable. None of them stuck around too long, all he could do was watch the memories and recreations replay before him until they inevitably dissolved. There were some members from his baseball team hanging out together. Tracy and her friends messing around. Paula, Jeff, and Pu saying goodbye to him. Pokey-

Pokey. 

He ran off as soon as Ness registered who he was. Ness sprung back to his feet in pursuit, desperately trying to reach forward as his old friend receded into the oppressive haze. Eventually the slush under him dissipated to a solid ground of deep magenta, and the dread filling his stomach grew stronger. 

Something inside of him knew he wouldn’t ever be able to see his old friend again, he wouldn’t ever be able to catch him. Against his better judgement, he forced his aching legs to continue racing through the darkening fog, getting caught up in his delusional hope to just see his long lost best friend one more time.

By the time he finally reached the center of the spiral, Ness’ lungs were burning and his legs wobbled under his weight, which he now realized was feeling like much more than his real body. He collapsed before the coil growing from the center, taking time trying to accept the fact that he was never going to catch his old friend. Though the sorrow gathered and set in his throat, he couldn’t even bring himself to cry about it anymore. 

He remained slouched on the ground for a while, heaving his chest. Finally, he hesitantly moved to place his hand on the coil, his vision filled with a blinding light while he felt the land fall away beneath him, plunging him into murky, violet water. A haunting, detached voice resonated faintly from the center of the sea, drawing him towards it. 

** _I… … … … … g… … d… _ **

He waded towards the source of the voice, the water feeling much thicker and impeding his movement much more than he remembered. The restricted pace him gave him plenty of time to ponder. This place has changed so much since his last visit, he could only imagine what he’s going to encounter at the heart of this ocean this time.

** _I… … … p … … y..._ **

There were no sea monsters infesting the waters this time around. In fact, even with Ness's ever intensifying sense of unease, he hadn’t come across anything immediately dangerous.

** _N… t… r… … … ht…_ **

Ness couldn’t tell how much time has passed since he got here or how far he’s traveled. Although he was fairly lucid in this dreamlike realm, the rate in which time was passing was completely indiscernible. The only way he could tell he was making any progress was the clarity of the eerie cries.

  
  


** _N… … … s… i… h… … ts…_ **

He was getting close. 

** _Ness!_ **

At last, there was a break in the fog, revealing a weathered, broken down iteration of the statue Ness had been met with before. Ness trembled with apprehension, but readied himself in a defensive and worked his way closer to it. His first step forward, it began to crack. Another step, pieces chipped and fall away. His last step towards it and-

In that instant, the statue shattered, erupting with tendrils of darkness. They sprawled out, completely consuming the sea around Ness, engulfing his sight and chilling him to the bone. Swirls of seething crimson spilled through the void, scorching against his skin and burning his eyes. A deafening cacophony of anguished screeches and Ness's name ripping the air. The overwhelming mixture of numbing cold, searing pain, and incomprehensible white noise rendered Ness unable to move, any thoughts he could attempt to formulate being drowned out to be replaced by overlapping mixtures of his own voice and that of the creature that never ceased tormenting him.

The most vile things inside of his mind smothered Ness, up until this point it had been rotting him from the inside out, only now has it begun the inevitable process of violently tearing him to pieces. The horrid mass flooding from his own conscience was seeping through his body bit-by-bit, causing the burning sensation coursing through his veins.

Hopelessness ravaged Ness's brain while he urgently wracked his mind for solace, a way out, something, anything to save him. Every thought and feeling that had resided in his head for the past months that he repeatedly tried to shelve and push away were all caving in on him at once, he had never experienced anything like this before, tears welled in his eyes, he couldn’t deal with it all on his own.

_ He doesn’t have to. _

In the midst of the thunderous, scarlet whirlpool threatening to shred Ness’ body to pieces, it occurred to him.  _ “Mom…”  _ he choked a sob out into the brutal storm, which seemingly responded by becoming more vicious. He closed his eyes against the harsh force and finally let tears stream down his face.  _ ”... Paula… Please…” _ his voice was hoarse, the cyclone grew angrier.  _ ”Jeff…” _ it ripped into him deeper, he had to resist the rising urge to hurl from the pain.  _ ”Pu…” _ ever so slightly, Ness felt like he could see openings in the darkness overrunning his mind when he opened his eyes.

_ ”Please… I need… I-I… I can’t…”  _ Ness’ aching body shuddered with another sob.  _ ”I need help! Please!”  _ he begged as his stiff legs gave way and he landed on his knees, every inch of his body inside and out screaming at him in pain, though, it was less than before. The pitch black surroundings and red swirls were starting to give way to the purple sea he had remembered from what feels like so long ago.  _ ”I need you guys… I can’t do this by myself...”  _ he whimpered.

The storm continued to lash at Ness’ body, but it’s power over him was weakening. Even if he couldn’t see it, or hear it, he felt a comforting presence enveloping him, as if it were cradling him in a tender hug.  _ “Thank you- thank you… Please stay with me…” _ He clung to whatever, whoever surrounded him as if his life depended on it, which, it probably does. 

The poison red deluge recoiled from him furiously, surrendering to the returning color of the sea and lifting fog, falling back to the center and slowly draining away. As the last of the corruption dispelled, Ness let out a shaky sigh of relief. He closed his eyes and felt himself being pulled back into consciousness. 


End file.
